Why does my Ranger ride rougher than my F150 did?

[P. A. Schilke]

Good info! I'm going on 14 years with my '07 Ranger XL 2 door. Rides really rough. I run 25-28 on the back, 28-33 on the front. (""Apples & oranges"", I know, being an 07 lol). I like my tires soft, plus I think it's easier on the springs and shocks. Although it's impossible, regardless of pressure, to get them to wear evenly across the tread.

HI CR,

Rim Roll off on the 07 is 25 psi.... you are okay until a violent turn like avoiding a crash...bead may unseat. After the Firestone debacle, the edict from the top was no tire pressures below 30 psi. All Ride and handling will be at this pressure of above.... I still think this directive is in place at Ford.

Best,
Phil Schilke
Ranger Vehicle Engineering
Ford Motor Co. Retired

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[Robisten8]

I just installed the Fox 2.0 Roush kit a couple days ago and it's the best mod I've ever done to an automobile. The ride and handling is a dramatic difference. It also accomplished getting the truck leveled and will allow a bigger tire.

 

[GTGallop]

the best part is your body learns to tense at the right moments just before a bone jarring shake and your core benefits from it. I wont say I've got a six pack yet, but dayyyum....i feel some firmness coming back after all these years. Thank you Ford for not giving me a girly truck like the ridgeline.

I thought off-roading was going to be a lazy man's activity.
Was I wrong! Going off road is an intensive core work out. Two hours bouncing around in the desert will flat wear you out. No six pack yet but I'll bet I'm rippling like a Greek Adonis in just one more year of this.

 

[Kevreh]

There are so many things different between the Ranger and F-150, just like there are plenty of difference between a Ranger and a Mustang or Explorer. They're different vehicles that are designed differently and react differently.

As others have said you either get used to it or shell out money to maybe change it to the way you want. I actually very much like the ride of my FX4.

I’ll probably replace the rear shocks myself for a couple hundred $. See if that gets me close enough.

 

[NickTheEnforcer]

Tires were at 35psi, lowered them a bit to 33. I do not have the FX2 package.

a lot of good advise here from a lot of folks, PSI seems to be an on going issue. Got mine delivered with 54psi on all. finally settled on 30 all around for paved roads and eliminated my main issue. I came from a full-size ram and as others have said full size will ride differently. Its naturally a 'sprung' ride which would lend well to driving wit a load. I have not had very much weight in mine in the 1.5 years I've had it but the couple times I did I was happy.

 

[Gizmokid2005]

I noticed the same thing. My Ranger definitely rides rougher than the '04 F-150 Screw 4x4 I had, as well as the '21 F-150 STX I had as a rental last week. Aside from the obvious things of weight (only 500-1000lbs), length, and width, another huge contribution in my opinion is the rear setup. Not only did they "cheap out" on the springs, they also retained the inboard (inside the springs) shock setup, instead of outboard (outside the springs like the F-150), like they do on the F-150 and that makes a large difference in how the rear handles and behaves.

I wouldn't call the Ranger a rough-riding vehicle by any means, but I would absolutely say it rides worse than any of the modern F-150s does for instance.

There are a lot of upgrades out there and everyone has opinions on many of them, a lot of what will work for you depends on your use-case and what you're looking for.

 

[TechnicallyReal]

I found my father's '17 F-150 Lariat to be surprisingly 'rigid' feeling and I didn't like it. I'm used to soft feeling ride in big trucks. Felt every bump, instead.

Maybe it's less a ranger thing and more a newer Ford truck thing?

 

[Dean Schaffran]

Had a(2-dr) S-10 Blazer centuries ago, bought used with extra-large tires on it. Between the short wheelbase and those balloons on the corners it rode like a rockin' horse. Somebody stole it from a parking lot--good riddance. (Did lose a tie I liked that was inside, oh well....)

 

[Dean Schaffran]

HI CR,

Rim Roll off on the 07 is 25 psi.... you are okay until a violent turn like avoiding a crash...bead may unseat. After the Firestone debacle, the edict from the top was no tire pressures below 30 psi. All Ride and handling will be at this pressure of above.... I still think this directive is in place at Ford.

Best,
Phil Schilke
Ranger Vehicle Engineering
Ford Motor Co. Retired

Not sure how you meant to spin this, but:
My impression as a consumer reading the stories as they came out was that the "Firestone Debacle" was more the result of deficient suspension (riding like a truck) and pressure from Ford executives on Firestone that if they wanted to continue to sell OEM tires they better get behind the deflation solution so they could get to market without needing to redesign the suspension and delay the thing for a year or so. Course that was a quarter century ago, I might be mis-remembering it.....

 

[RangerRob]

I have a 2014 F150 SuperCrew FX4 - it is an amazing road vehicle with ride, noise.
I have a 2019 Ranger SuperCrew Lariat FX4 - it is a fine ride, it is wallowy but not harsh ... seems to be a bit bouncy in comparison. I believe this package as some Fox shocks on it ... just a bit of bounce to them ... very nice highway vehicle with some off-roading attitude (not mudding or rocking too much but trails and gravel not an issue)

 

[P. A. Schilke]

Not sure how you meant to spin this, but:
My impression as a consumer reading the stories as they came out was that the "Firestone Debacle" was more the result of deficient suspension (riding like a truck) and pressure from Ford executives on Firestone that if they wanted to continue to sell OEM tires they better get behind the deflation solution so they could get to market without needing to redesign the suspension and delay the thing for a year or so. Course that was a quarter century ago, I might be mis-remembering it.....

Hi Dean,

There were problems both in house at Ford and at Firestone. There were a few big wigs at Ford who were fired for stupid decisions. Firestone Wilderness A/T from Akin S. C. (automated production) were quite good... Most tire failures were from Georgia plant...hand layed up production. Nothing wrong with Explorer suspension per se. When I had to get rid of Firestone off Ranger, I was sad to see the Wilderness A/T go..it was a nice tire for Ranger....of coarse Ranger was 100% from Akin as I recall... Sad chapter in Ford's history. Firestone edicts from J. Nassar resulted in me being on call 24/7 for half a year. Really burned me out.... 3am teleconferences were tough...

best,
Phil Schilke
Ranger Vehicle Engineering
Ford Motor Co.

 

[Rviator]

Hi Dean,

There were problems both in house at Ford and at Firestone. There were a few big wigs at Ford who were fired for stupid decisions. Firestone Wilderness A/T from Akin S. C. (automated production) were quite good... Most tire failures were from Georgia plant...hand layed up production. Nothing wrong with Explorer suspension per se. When I had to get rid of Firestone off Ranger, I was sad to see the Wilderness A/T go..it was a nice tire for Ranger....of coarse Ranger was 100% from Akin as I recall... Sad chapter in Ford's history. Firestone edicts from J. Nassar resulted in me being on call 24/7 for half a year. Really burned me out.... 3am teleconferences were tough...

best,
Phil Schilke
Ranger Vehicle Engineering
Ford Motor Co.

As a knowledgeable consumer it was sad to see the Ford Firestone split as history says the company founders were friends and would go on camping trips together.
My Ranger was supplied with Bridgestones which is now associated with Firestone so perhaps they made up.

 

[Rp930]

Firestone was friends with Edison also as I remember

 

[Dean Schaffran]

As a knowledgeable consumer it was sad to see the Ford Firestone split as history says the company founders were friends and would go on camping trips together.
My Ranger was supplied with Bridgestones which is now associated with Firestone so perhaps they made up.

Bridgestone bought Firestone after the latter went broke as a result of this circus.

 

[P. A. Schilke]

Firestone was friends with Edison also as I remember

Hi Rick,

Thomas Edison, Henry Ford and Harvey Firestone. I loved the history with Firestone tires on Ranger at the time. Then we get J. Nassar CEO and Ahole in Chief of Ford and CEO and Major Jerk Lampe of Firestone playing "Who has the bigger EGO!".... Destroyed the history. Nassar said "mistakes were made". NO! YOU and YOU ONLY made the mistakes.

Interesting side bar. Nassar was finally ousted when Bill Ford grew some balls. Comerica Bank in Michigan picked up Nassar for their Board of Directors. Almost 100% of Ford employees closed their Comerica accounts and transferred their banking. Nassar backed off but Comerica Bank never recovered those accounts.

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